Monthly Review: February 2023
For most of February, I was travelling, exploring the vastness of Rajasthan. I returned to my place on 19th February; it has been only 9 days here.
Coming to the content, I watched movies and series and read books. It was difficult, to be honest, but somehow I could!
Books:
I’m currently reading a couple of books from this app called Chaduvu, which has a good collection of original and translated Telugu books. It is subscription-based, and the experience so far is good for me. I completed reading a short-story collection called “Baahuda” by Sudharshan.
Baahuda
This book is soulful and has good emotions. Those relationships and the characters are still with me. It is commendable how the author intertwined the characters and brought them into various stories, like Bindu in stories like Hindi Pareeksha and others.
There are hyperlinks, there are meta elements, and there are genuine characters. The nuanced writing in the dialect of Rayalaseema hooked me throughout the book.
Looking forward to reading more from Sudharshan :)
Kachithamaina Javabu
For the first time, I finished an audiobook — “Kachithamaina Javabu” by Sripada Subramanya Shastri. The story is about a widow’s remarriage in an orthodox Brahmin family. Lots of respect for the authors of that era, who tried to address the social stigma in those days and tried to bring change in society. This is one such forward-thinking, progressive story with minimal characters.
While returning to my place at Secunderabad Railway station, I was looking for books at the Gita Press Gorakhpur stall. As usual, I purchased three books and started reading the small booklet on “Nala Damayanthi.”
Although I don’t remember listening to their story in childhood, I heard their names multiple times. Hence, I started reading it and completed it quickly. This story is narrated to Dharma Raja during his exile to highlight the difficulties encountered by Nala and Damayanthi.
I’m reading two books: Impu Kathalu, which I purchased at Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, and No Rules Rules on Netflix by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer. Trying to read a couple of pages every day from these two books. Let’s see how it goes.
There are a lot of books lying untouched on my bookshelf, and my guilt of stockpiling and not reading them spread inside me, and I’ve decided not to purchase books until I complete reading a couple of them.
By the way, I read an interview with Sridhar Raghavan, the screenwriter of Pathaan and other films, where he emphasises the importance of reading. Adding a screenshot here.
Movies
Speaking of movies, I saw 3 movies this month, all on OTT.
Thunivu
I became a fan of H Vinoth after watching his first two films. But his fourth film, Valimai, disappointed me big time. I wasn’t expecting a great film from him with this outing, but his outlook towards the world and cinema are interesting. I watched a couple of interviews that he gave while promoting the movie.
Coming to Thunivu, it’s definitely better than Valimai, but Vinoth hasn’t created the magic he did with his first two films. Ajith is in top form, and the background score is sometimes amazing. The movie’s writing isn’t great, but it touches on bank frauds up to a certain detail. Although I wasn’t impressed with the movie, I liked how he built the characters.
Had he banked on the story of Ajith as the go-getter for the dark world, I’d have liked the movie.
Veera Simha Reddy
This Pongal release of 2023 has Balayya playing the titular role, directed by Gopichand Malineni. It is good in parts, with a good background score by Thaman. Balayya, as VSR is powerful, mass, and has an aura, but the son Balayya, Jai’s portions are patience testers. I wish they could’ve written more on VSR instead of Jai in the first half. Sincerely appreciate Varalakshmi Sarathkumar for her acting efforts in this movie. She’s evil and emotional. Another good role.
Bullet Train
I’ve been yearning for a good action thriller like John Wick for a long time, and watched Bullet Train! It is kickass. I loved the movie and enjoyed it. It got me the feel of both John Wick and Knives Out. Wish they made more movies in India with stylised action sequences that are fun to watch. Please suggest action movies :)
Series
I was in Jodhpur when I watched Farzi on the day of its streaming on Prime Video and thoroughly enjoyed it. Wrote on Farzi here:
Travel
I was fortunate to plan and execute the Rajasthan trip this month. I started my trip (workation) to Rajasthan on 26th January. After a long trip of around 23 days, I was looking forward to eating authentic South Indian breakfasts 🙂 and returned on 18th February.
Sharing the list of places in the travel order here:
Jaipur
Pushkar
Jaisalmer
Jodhpur
Udaipur
More about the trip in upcoming blogs.
Other Stuff
Interviews
While I couldn’t watch any movies during my Rajasthan trip, I could watch interviews, owing to the duration of each interview not lasting more than an hour. I watched them while having lunch or dinner, alone at the dorm or in a restaurant with not-so-good views.
Here are a couple of interviews I watched this month (the list is long):
- FC Front Row with Siddharth Anand on his direction choices for Pathaan.
- Anurag Kashyap Unfiltered interview is not about the filmmaking but the man himself.
- Baradwaj Rangan interview with:
Venky Atluri — about his transition from actor to director and why he made SIR, a different genre he hasn’t touched until now.
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari — about her way of directing and how she writes characters.
Selva Raghavan — about acting. - Ram Venkat Srikar’s interview with:
- Sreekar Prasad — Must watch. There are good insights for filmmakers about using silence in films, knowing the target audience before mounting the project, avoiding artificial gimmicks to elevate stars/actors, and how an editor can own the project right from the script. Also, his views on why Hindi films aren’t doing well of late.
- Rahul Yadav Nakka — Rahul has produced three films so far, all with debut directors, and all performed well at the box office. In the interview, RVS and Rahul discussed the challenges a new producer faces and how filmmakers can approach the producers with their scripts. Another good conversation.
- Anurag Kashyap interview with Chal Chitra Talks: I watched this one too! He came to promote the movie, but this interview didn’t make sense to me, while it was funny in places. They had Anurag and made him play a guessing game in that precious time.
Aside from these interviews on YouTube, I also stumbled upon a few good stand-ups. Here’s a list of the good ones that I watched this month while having breakfast or lunch, or dinner or simply lying on the bed. When you’re travelling alone, you feel bitter about things; hence, to boost the mood instantly, I relied on these standups. They accomplished the task 😀
- Sai Kiran — “I’m Still Single”: https://youtu.be/j7aRh4utwsQ
- Tongue issues by Abhishek Upamanyu: https://youtu.be/Slqo8SHnFaU
- Mervyn Rozz: https://youtu.be/PlBV3E-zXFE
And the standups of Ramya Ramapriya and Siddharth Dudeja.
Song:
I’ve been listening to Rhythm songs for some time and recently discovered this beautiful song. Playing it on a loop now ❤
This month has been kind to me in terms of exploring places, making new friends, and trying out new food cuisines.
In January, I was hopeful that I’d publish at least 3 blogs in February, but that didn’t happen. Will publish more than 3 blogs in March, for sure.
And the temperatures are gradually increasing. Hopefully, March won’t be harsh with its temperatures.
Take care, and drink more water 🙂
Until next time…
